While some may criticize it as unoriginal for parallels to past
movies and literature, James Cameron's latest masterpiece, Avatar
is a smash hit among critics and moviegoers alike.

Fueled
by strong sales of more expensive 3D
movie tickets and fueled by a viral marketing campaign online and
off, Avatar proved a triumph in a hit or miss market that's
seen even veterans like Harrison Ford recently deliver painful
flops. If Avatar has one problem it's that it's having a
hard time keeping up with international demand, as the film quickly
raked in over $1B USD within only three weeks of its December 10,
2009 release.

From a tech and science standpoint Avatar
is landmark success for 3D animation, marking the first time
audiences have embraced (for the most part) emotive human-like 3D
characters alongside living ones in a drama flick. The
animation pushes the boundaries of current work, as does the
xenobiology featured in the film (Avatar hired a team of
experienced biologists to help develop the flora and fauna of the
fictional world of Na'vi).

Now Avatar is about to make
history as it is expected
today to become the highest grossing film ever, sinking the
Titanic's record total of $1.843B USD. What is
particularly impressive is how quickly Avatar pulled in the
total, reaching $1.841B USD over the weekend, after only six weeks in
theaters, and less than that in some foreign markets.

In
many countries, Avatar has become the top grossing U.S. film
in their history, and even among their total top grossing films -- a
remarkable achievement in countries with strong film industries like
France. Internationally the film has earned $1.288B USD,
despite getting a bumped from China's standard theaters for a new
Chow Yun Fat epic about the Chinese philosopher Confucius (Avatar
continues to play in around 900 of China's 3D theaters).

Even
as Avatar rolls towards the epic mark of becoming the first
movie to break $2B USD, Cameron has announced that two sequels are in
the works. Considering Fox may have spent more than $300M USD
on the film, that's great news for the 3D animation industry.

With
its success, Avatar has drawn some backlash. The U.S.
Marine Corps disliked the unflattering depiction of the mercenary
marine army whose leadership was corrupted by greed and bloodlust.
Others loved Avatar so much that they reported depression and
suicidal thoughts out of regret they could not live in the movie's
fantasy world. And still others have complained of the film
being too similar to past work, varying from Pocahontas (first
popularized to the masses by the 19th century burlesque The Gentle
Savage) to Braveheart.

Critics, for the most part,
have been deaf to such criticism. They rewarded Avatar
with awards for Best Motion Picture and Best Director and the 2010
Golden Globe Awards.

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This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

The point is (like, say, The Borg) they weren't asked if and how much of the white man's 'gifts' they wanted...

There is a lesson here for interstellar contact. The next time we (that is, humanity as a whole) could be the 'Indians.' (Some have proposed a variation on the Principle of Reciprocity [Golden Rule] for this; 'Treat your inferiors as you would have your superiors treat you.')